Argentina

ArgentinaArgentina"In Unity and Freedom"

Location

• Argentina is in the southern of South America, bordering the South Atlantic Ocean, between Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay y Bolivia.

Geography

• Argentina is about 3,900 km long from north to south, and 1,400 km from east to west.

• The total surface area (excluding the Antarctic claim) is 2,766,891.2 km.

Government System

• The political system is a federal representative democratic republic, in which the President is head of state and head of government, complemented by a system of different officials elected through voting.

Language

• The official language of Argentina is Spanish, usually called castellano by Argentines.

• Argentines are the largest Spanish-speaking society that universally employs what is known as voseo (the use of the pronoun vos instead of tú (you)

Inhabitants

• In the 2001 census, Argentina had a population of 36,260,130 inhabitants, and the official population estimate for 2010 is of 40,134,425.

Important Dates

• Public holidays usually include most Catholic holidays. Historic holidays include the celebration of the May Revolution (25 May), the Independence Day (9 July), National Flag Day (20 June), the death of José de San Martín (17 August) and Sovereignty Day (formerly Malvinas Day, 2 April).

Sports

• The official national sport of Argentina is pato, played with a six-handle ball on horseback, but the most popular sport is football. The national football team has won 25 major international titles including two FIFA World Cups, two Olympic gold medals and fourteen Copa Américas.

• Basketball is the second most popular sport; a number of basketball players play in the U.S. NBA and European leagues.

Typical Food• Argentines enjoy a wide variety of magnific

creations, which include empanadas, locro, humitas, dulce de leche and yerba mate, considered Argentina's national beverage.

• The Argentine barbecue, asado, includes various types of meats, among them chorizo, costillas and morcilla.

• The country is the fifth most important wine producer in the world, with the annual per capita consumption of wine among the highest.

Music

• Tango, the music and lyrics, is Argentina's musical symbol with singers such as Carlos Gardel, Hugo del Carril, Roberto Goyeneche, Raúl Lavié, Tita Merello and Edmundo Rivero.

Religion

• The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion but also requires the government to support Roman Catholicism.

• Argentines are 92% Christian, 3% agnostic, 2% Muslim, 1% Jewish(1.3%), 1% atheist, and 1% Buddhist.

• Argentina has the largest Jewish population in Latin America with about 300,000.

Currency

• The peso is the currency of Argentina. Around $3.80 pesos are a United States dollar.